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Se 01 Ep.02: The Decline of the American Economy
Between 1950 and 1980, the American working and middle class saw the single greatest rise in growth, prosperity, and strength that the world had ever seen. If you were born in this time frame, it was almost a guarantee that your quality of life would be better than the lives of your parents, especially economically speaking.
But since 1980, that trend has been in reverse. For the first time in history, the vast majority of working and middle class households needed to be dual income to survive. Big businesses and the 1% grew continuously more politically influential, while everyone else quickly became left behind by the policies of politicians on both sides of the aisle.
In 2008, the financial crisis dealt a crushing blow to working and middle class communities across America. Problems like wages not commensurate with rising student debt and cost of living has a new generation struggling like few before had to. In the 1960’s and 70’s, the idea of someone with a bachelor’s degree, or even Master’s degree, having to work 2-3 jobs just to make ends meet was unheard of. Today, it’s the norm. We have now gone from the 2 income household to the 2 income individual to survive. And with political corruption not showing any signs of slowing down, Americans are barreling towards a cliff they may never recover from.
In this episode, Josh and Jon discuss how this happened in the first place, who’s affected, how, and why. And answer the ultimate question: can we turn this dangerous economic vehicle around in time? Or is the looming plunge off the economic cliff inevitable?
References
Arndt, C. (2016, Nov 23). Infrastructure Spending Trends. American Forum. Retrieved from https://www.americanactionforum.org/research/infrastructure-spending-trends/
Autor, D., Manning, A., & Smith, C. L. (2016). The Contribution of the Minimum Wage to US Wage Inequality over Three Decades: A Reassessment†. American Economic Journal, 8(1), 58-99.
Bradford Tax Institute. (2019, Jan). History of Federal Income Tax Rates: 1913 – 2019. Retrieved from https://bradfordtaxinstitute.com/Free_Resources/Federal-Income-Tax-Rates.aspx
Card, D. (2009, Jan). IMMIGRATION AND INEQUALITY. NBER WORKING PAPER SERIES(NBER Working Paper No. 14683).
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. (2018, Dec 11). A Guide to Statistics on Historical Trends in Income Inequality. Retrieved from https://www.cbpp.org/research/poverty-and-inequality/a-guide-to-statistics-on-historical-trends-in-income-inequality
Chang, A. (2018, Apr 16). 100 years of tax brackets, in one chart. Retrieved from Vox: https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/4/16/17215874/tax-brackets-100-years-chart
Federal Reserve History. (1994, Sep). Riegle-Neal Interstate Banking and Branching Efficiency Act of 1994. Retrieved from https://www.federalreservehistory.org/essays/riegle_neal_act_of_1994
Gallup. (2019, Apr). Taxes. Retrieved from https://news.gallup.com/poll/1714/taxes.aspx
OECD Data. (2015). Income Innequality. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Retrieved from https://data.oecd.org/inequality/income-inequality.htm
Saez, E., & Zucman, G. (2014, Oct). WEALTH INEQUALITY IN THE UNITED STATES SINCE 1913:EVIDENCE FROM CAPITALIZED INCOME TAX DATA. NBER WORKING PAPER SERIES. Retrieved from https://www.nber.org/papers/w20625.pdf
Tax Policy Center. (2018, Nov). Historical Income Distribution for All Households. Retrieved from https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/statistics/historical-income-distribution-all-households
The Economist. (2014, Nov 6). Forget the 1%. Retrieved from www.econmist.com: https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2014/11/06/forget-the-1
The Washington Post. (2019, Feb 22). YouTube. Retrieved from Do the Waltons earn more in a minute than Walmart workers do in a year?: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evTQLvTMSPc
Western, B., & Rosenfeld, J. (2011). Unions, Norms, and the Rise in U.S. Wage Inequality. American Sociological Review, 76(513).
Yglesias, M. (2015, May 12). Vox. Retrieved from Everything you need to know about income inequality: https://www.vox.com/2014/5/7/18076944/income-inequality
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By itmightbeinterestingBetween 1950 and 1980, the American working and middle class saw the single greatest rise in growth, prosperity, and strength that the world had ever seen. If you were born in this time frame, it was almost a guarantee that your quality of life would be better than the lives of your parents, especially economically speaking.
But since 1980, that trend has been in reverse. For the first time in history, the vast majority of working and middle class households needed to be dual income to survive. Big businesses and the 1% grew continuously more politically influential, while everyone else quickly became left behind by the policies of politicians on both sides of the aisle.
In 2008, the financial crisis dealt a crushing blow to working and middle class communities across America. Problems like wages not commensurate with rising student debt and cost of living has a new generation struggling like few before had to. In the 1960’s and 70’s, the idea of someone with a bachelor’s degree, or even Master’s degree, having to work 2-3 jobs just to make ends meet was unheard of. Today, it’s the norm. We have now gone from the 2 income household to the 2 income individual to survive. And with political corruption not showing any signs of slowing down, Americans are barreling towards a cliff they may never recover from.
In this episode, Josh and Jon discuss how this happened in the first place, who’s affected, how, and why. And answer the ultimate question: can we turn this dangerous economic vehicle around in time? Or is the looming plunge off the economic cliff inevitable?
References
Arndt, C. (2016, Nov 23). Infrastructure Spending Trends. American Forum. Retrieved from https://www.americanactionforum.org/research/infrastructure-spending-trends/
Autor, D., Manning, A., & Smith, C. L. (2016). The Contribution of the Minimum Wage to US Wage Inequality over Three Decades: A Reassessment†. American Economic Journal, 8(1), 58-99.
Bradford Tax Institute. (2019, Jan). History of Federal Income Tax Rates: 1913 – 2019. Retrieved from https://bradfordtaxinstitute.com/Free_Resources/Federal-Income-Tax-Rates.aspx
Card, D. (2009, Jan). IMMIGRATION AND INEQUALITY. NBER WORKING PAPER SERIES(NBER Working Paper No. 14683).
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. (2018, Dec 11). A Guide to Statistics on Historical Trends in Income Inequality. Retrieved from https://www.cbpp.org/research/poverty-and-inequality/a-guide-to-statistics-on-historical-trends-in-income-inequality
Chang, A. (2018, Apr 16). 100 years of tax brackets, in one chart. Retrieved from Vox: https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/4/16/17215874/tax-brackets-100-years-chart
Federal Reserve History. (1994, Sep). Riegle-Neal Interstate Banking and Branching Efficiency Act of 1994. Retrieved from https://www.federalreservehistory.org/essays/riegle_neal_act_of_1994
Gallup. (2019, Apr). Taxes. Retrieved from https://news.gallup.com/poll/1714/taxes.aspx
OECD Data. (2015). Income Innequality. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Retrieved from https://data.oecd.org/inequality/income-inequality.htm
Saez, E., & Zucman, G. (2014, Oct). WEALTH INEQUALITY IN THE UNITED STATES SINCE 1913:EVIDENCE FROM CAPITALIZED INCOME TAX DATA. NBER WORKING PAPER SERIES. Retrieved from https://www.nber.org/papers/w20625.pdf
Tax Policy Center. (2018, Nov). Historical Income Distribution for All Households. Retrieved from https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/statistics/historical-income-distribution-all-households
The Economist. (2014, Nov 6). Forget the 1%. Retrieved from www.econmist.com: https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2014/11/06/forget-the-1
The Washington Post. (2019, Feb 22). YouTube. Retrieved from Do the Waltons earn more in a minute than Walmart workers do in a year?: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evTQLvTMSPc
Western, B., & Rosenfeld, J. (2011). Unions, Norms, and the Rise in U.S. Wage Inequality. American Sociological Review, 76(513).
Yglesias, M. (2015, May 12). Vox. Retrieved from Everything you need to know about income inequality: https://www.vox.com/2014/5/7/18076944/income-inequality